NYPA To Resume Talks Over Power Deal

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The New York Power Authority will resume talks over the relicensing agreement which affects St. Lawrence County.

State Senators Patty Ritchie and Joe Griffo made the announcement Friday. Talks are expected to resume by the end of the month.

The St. Lawrence Local Government Task Force and the Power Authority have been conducting a 10-year review of the Massena dam's 2002 relicensing agreement.

Critics have said the deal shortchanged the north country, compared to a similar relicensing pact between NYPA and western New York communities located near the utility's Niagara Project facility, and the differences have cost local communities here millions of dollars.

"We're going to go back with an open mind," Massena town supervisor Joe Gray said Friday night.

"We look forward to the Power Authority's willingness, and hope they're sincere as we move forward with negotiations," he said.

The Power Authority has chided the task force for seeking what the Power Authority has described as money to fund the operations of local government, some thing the Power Authority has said it can't legally do.

"If the focus of the upcoming discussion is on items that are legal for NYPA to do, we should be able to advance this process," NYPA said in a statement late Friday.

"I'm pleased that the Power Authority has agreed to continue discussions with the communities on finding a more fair way to compensate them for the continuing deep impact of the power dam," Ritchie (R. - 48th District) said in a news release.

"The North Country sacrificed land, economic opportunity and tax revenues to play host to the power dam, and they only seek to be treated fairly," Griffo (R. - 47th District) said in a news release.